I have never really ever been one of those people - the people that think that their neighbourhood, their street, their community was too esteemed, or affluent to have 'those kinds of people' in their midst. Part of my childhood was spent in a place that was so much like Pleasantville that I nearly choked on the sugary goodness everyday.
I STILL never thought that I was ever going to be a Nimby-person.
Until a couple of weeks ago, when our street woke up to this.
See that pink house? It is directly across the street from me. They had JUST finished painting the exterior of the house about two days before they were vandalised.
What does this have to do with NIMBY? Well, the perpetrators of this heinous crime live three doors away from me. In a group home.Oh, sure, we knew about it. I figured live and let live. After all, I have no idea why any of the kids are there. Sometimes, circumstances beyond your control can send you spiralling and you end up somewhere that you never thought that you would be.
The kids started hanging out on the church steps, next door to us. One night, one of them slept on the church doorstep, much to my discontent. Still, we let them be.
Look what happens when we 'let them be.'
The worst part of this whole thing is that the church next to us was hit. Bad. Jessica and I cleaned the blue spray paint from the windows, but there was a big, bold R.I.P. Biggie Smalls blasted across the new stone steps.
Some of the mostly elderly congregation were afraid that a real gang was involved. All of the houses hit have had to recover from this with NO help from the jerks that are responsible. You know how I know that the group home kids did it?
Two reasons.
One kid was caught wearing a paint stained shirt when the police came, and
they kids were forced to apologize to the church members that were cleaning up the mess.
Mind you, they have not spoken one word to any of the other neighbours that have to use their own resources to take care of this mess, and they have not even offered to help anyone with the restoration.
So, am I a Nimby now?
On my street?
You bet.
15 comments:
I agree, and I've always been a Nimby myself. I don't care how old -and stupid- those who do these 'decorations' are, I wouldn't mind at all if they spent a night at "Chez OPP" for their actions.
[Look what happens when we 'let them be.']
Yup, the worst happens. Kids and even immature adults need boundaries. If the small stuff is ignored by the police and the community then it just escalates in my opinion.
Awhhh!
That's just terrible. I am so sorry about the NIMBY.
The Twerps!
so why didn't the police grab each one of the kids and make them clean it all up, you know in days way back this is what would have happened, sometimes changes are not for the best, a lot of the youths of today have no respect.
gabriel - I agree 100%. I can't for the life of me understand why they did NOT spend a night in custody, or why they are NOT cleaning up the mess that they made. It makes me sick to see my little street now.
From now on, when I see a kid hanging out on the church steps, they have 5 seconds to leave before they meet my garden hose.
tod - I wanted to chase the liitle arseholes away from the church steps the 1st time that they spent the night there.
The thing that kills me is that these kids live in a group home and are supposed to be supervised. I have NEVER seen an adult at that house. NOT ONCE. WHERE the hell were the adults when these hooligans were running the streets at 4 am???? Someone needs to take responsibility, and it shouldn't be the property owners.
cindydianne - I was gonna call them something else....
lw - Why didn't the cops grab em up? Not a clue, but I would like know the answer as much as you would.
I think that these kids need a swift kick in the behind. I am just the one to do it, too.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Names please!
aims - I don't have any names, but I do know where they live..For now, anyway. I can't say how much longer they will be living, since most of the neighbours know where they where they are....
man stuff like that makes me spittin mad. I think they should have to suffer some major consequences. But we never make our youth and that's why they are turning out the way they are.
three kids tried that around here and I twatted all three. Coppers said "You can't hit em they're only fifteen" I said "Bollocks" and walked off. Nowt happened and it stopped. When I say nowt happened their dad tried having a go so I nutted him and then it stopped.
Sad thing is they understand fear and nothing else. You have to frighten them more than they frighten you then they behave.
What a world eh?
Give em a kick in the balls from me babe x
burfica- I hear you. I feel the same way. In Canada, our laws are way too toothless...You get nothing more than a slap on the wrist for crap like this. Not even the 'parents' have done anything. If this was my kid, I would kick some serious ass. Mind you, I hope that I have taught my kids better...
manic - Sigh. You know, I would love to do that - give the little Christers a good kick in the arse. If I did, I would be charged and the kids would be made into victims.
I am watching them, and they are one step away from getting hosed down. Don't think that is illegal.
I have always believed that group homes do not work, and then you came along and reinforced that belief 100%! Thanks! LOL! The cops probably thought that the kids had been in and out of the cop-shop so many times, that one more visit wouldn't even faze them. I agree, though, those little perps should have been made to clean up ALL their mess! But that is what happens when you let liberals run the country! No one has to pay for the actions of ne'er-do-wells, except their victims. One word of warning, if you, yourself, do anything towards them, like hosing them down, they WILL retailate and escalate, and you don't want your family involved with that. Just call the cops everytime you see them loitering, and eventually the City will have to do something to stop all the costs of policing the place. Good luck!
P.S. Go back into my archives and read about the group home I had to deal with!
Phoenix - I will check out your archives..I do call the cops, but by the time they get here, there is nothing going on. Makes me look crazy(ier).
They know me well enough to know that I will not back down. I had two of them threaten me awhile back, and I stood my ground. They also seem to be somewhat afraid of Shawn. I am careful, though. I am worried about the dogs. Who knows what someone might do to a little dog outside. That is what worried me.
You know, I want to give everyone a chance and I want to like everyone. I do. Too bad that I was so wrong this time.
I think the thing that upset me the most was the damage done to the church. It almost made me cry. The elderly parishoners were scared silly by what they thought were real gangs, and then they had to clean up the mess. The average age of the people at that chucrh has got to be 70.
Is it a double sin to do this to a church???
We live in the country but have neighbors. They have always been the trashy dope dealer, child abusers kicked out of everyplace else type.I have always pretty much hated all my neighbors for 17 years. They change with great frequency but they are the same people over and over. LOvin life. Hey, saw your sweet post at Andreas.deb
deb- Seems like I hate most of my neigbours, too. This is the 1st house that I have lived in since I was a kid. We have been in townhouses, mostly. There is nothiong worse than sharing a wall with a weirdo. One place that we lived, the people that shared our wall would argue about sex - and then yell at us later b/c they knew that we heard.
I had great neighbours for 5 years, but moved away from that place...
Anyway, yes, I stopped at Andrea's. I had been there a couple of times before, and I had been praying for her and her family. She was so brave.
I hope that her family will be ok. It's going to be soo hard...
I remember being 14 with a can of spraypaint... I tagged a few buildings and my school and it was just a laugh. We didn't consider it a big crime, it was just a bit of fun. These kids just want to annoy adults and it's working. I expect using a hose on them will be classed as assualt and you could find yourself on a criminal charge. My advice is get together with a few neighbours and kick the shit out of the little brats. When the cops come round just deny everything.
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